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  2. October 2017

October 2017

Rosenworcel, Clyburn Need to Thump Trump

[Commentary] Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai’s comments at George Mason were as disappointing as they were predictable. Last March, after President Donald Trump called CNN, ABC, CBS and NBC “the enemy of the American people,” Pai was asked by Sen Tom Udall (D-NM) at an oversight hearing if he agreed with the president. Chairman Pai took a pass, saying he didn’t want to “wade into the larger political debates.” But what about the FCC’s two Democrats, Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Mignon Clyburn? Surely, they came down hard on the Trump for trying to intimidate the media through the offices of the FCC. Nope.

Perhaps the problem is, they don’t have anybody on staff who writes tough. Allow me.
For Rosenworcel: I don’t have time or the inclination to educate that ignorant, two-bit real estate hustler on freedom of the press. But let me be clear: I will treat any Trump-inspired complaint against NBC with the same contempt I would Trump himself.
For Clyburn: As a former newspaper publisher, I will burn this place to ground before I let Trump or any other political hack use the FCC processes to intimidate or silence the news media in any fashion.

Report: 1 in 4 Emails That Appear to be Dot-Gov Addresses Are Phishing Attempts

About one-fourth of e-mails that purport to be from federal agencies are malicious phishing e-mails spoofing federal addresses, according to a report from the cybersecurity company Agari. The study was based on Agari clients that use an e-mail security feature called Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance, or DMARC. The Homeland Security Department gave federal agencies three months to install DMARC on their e-mail systems Oct 16 as part of a larger e-mail and web security drive.

You can't wish away hard truths. One is we must fix Lifeline phone plan abuse.

[Commentary] No matter how valuable the Lifeline program is in theory, it’s wasting millions of taxpayer dollars. It allows the telecommunications carriers who profit from the program to verify eligibility for their participants — and too many are turning a blind eye. Lifeline was poorly structured and badly executed from the start. The goal of providing low-income Americans help regaining their economic footing with phone and broadband service is worthwhile and admirable — but that doesn’t mean that any plan doing that is worthy of unequivocal support.

Sidestepping the problems in this terribly run program is a disservice to all participants as well as those footing the bill, and will endanger the program’s existence if we allow it to continue. I’ll remain engaged on this issue and committed to serious changes. In the meantime, I encourage my party, as well as my friends from across the aisle, to join me in pushing for oversight and accountability regardless of its political convenience.

The movement to regulate Facebook is attracting powerful new allies

Sens Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Mark Warner (D-VA) took the first steps toward regulating online political advertising in a manner similar to the way the government already regulates these ads in traditional media. The Sens say their Honest Ads Act will protect against foreign interference in elections by requiring platforms like Facebook to make details about ads’ buyers, pricing, and targeting publicly available. Now the question is how much momentum the bill can generate.

In addition to the Sunlight Foundation, it received endorsements from advocacy groups, including the Campaign Legal Center, Issue One, the Brennan Center of Justice, Common Cause and Public Citizen. For Sens Klobuchar and Warner, that represents a good start. But the real battle is only beginning. And with lobbyists ramping up their involvement, much of the fight over transparency in advertising will play out behind closed doors.

Tech companies to lobby for immigrant 'Dreamers' to remain in U.S.

Nearly two dozen major companies in technology and other industries are planning to launch a coalition to demand legislation that would allow young, illegal immigrants a path to permanent residency.

The Coalition for the American Dream intends to ask Congress to pass bipartisan legislation in 2017 that would allow these immigrants, often referred to as “Dreamers,” to continue working in the United States, the documents said. Alphabet's Google, Microsoft, Amazon.com, Facebook, Intel, Uber, IBM, Marriott International Inc and other top U.S. companies are listed as members.

Sens Wicker, Cortez Masto Introduce ‘SPEED Act’

Sens Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) have introduced the “Streamlining Permitting to Enable Efficient Deployment of Broadband Infrastructure Act of 2017” (SPEED Act) (S 1988). Specifically, the SPEED Act would streamline federal permitting processes that impede the quick and efficient deployment of next-generation broadband technologies, including 5G.

Currently, new and replacement telecommunications infrastructure is subject to numerous, sometimes duplicative federal approvals, including environmental and historical reviews. These duplicative approvals extend to areas that have already been established as a public right-of-way (ROW), and where telecommunications infrastructure already exists. The SPEED Act would not preempt the authority of a State or local government to apply and enforce all applicable zoning and other land use regulations on communications providers.

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